Shock as children given school places 20 miles away

Parents have shared their shock and outrage after their children were allocated school places as far as 20 miles (32km) away from their homes.

Multiple families in Banbury and its surrounding villages have reported their children had not been given spots at any of the five secondary schools in and around the north Oxfordshire market town.

Instead, they have been allocated spaces at The Cooper School in Bicester - which one parent said was like a "bomb has dropped" on the family's plans.

Oxfordshire County Council, which is responsible for allocating secondary school places in the county, said it was working to find the children spaces closer to their homes.

Anthony Holloway is one of dozens of parents from Banbury whose year six children have been offered places in Bicester.

"We put four schools down which are all located within Banbury and the surrounding area and we received our offer place - it was a bit of a surprise to find it was a school in Bicester," he explained.

"The thought that we might have to worry about getting our child from Banbury to Bicester for an 08:30 start isn't an ideal solution for us.

"We don't know if something's going to change, and that's quite difficult to explain to a child of 10 or 11."

Jonathan Sivyer's three eldest children all go to school across the border in Warwickshire - but his youngest has now been given a place at a school in the opposite direction.

"The real annoying thing at the moment is the anxiety it's created - he's taking his his SAT exams," he said.

"We were trying to move house and get everyone into the same school, and he was happy with that.

"But now he doesn't even know that he can go to the same school with his brothers and sisters which is even worse."

The Labour MP for Banbury, Sean Woodcock, said the situation was "understandably causing quite a lot of distress".

He said the problem had arisen because "essentially the county council has not projected that there would be an issue" with school places in Banbury.

"This is the result unfortunately of a county council which... really doesn't understand Banbury and the particular issues and circumstances around people who live in and around Banbury."

He added that he had raised the issue with Oxfordshire County Council and would be meeting with Sean Gaul - the authority's education chief - next week to discuss the situation.

Councillor Gaul, who represents Bicester, told the BBC the authority's "number one focus" was "getting the Banbury children placed in Banbury schools as soon as possible".

"We've arranged satisfactory outcomes for 30 out of 54 in just over a week, and I have every confidence that we have the right people in the right places supporting this ongoing priority," he said.

"However, I fully acknowledge that while that's a very encouraging picture overall, for those families who aren't happy with the school allocated, they will be disappointed, and we continue to work hard to find an acceptable solution for them," he added.

Oxfordshire County Council said more than 85% of children had been offered a place at their first choice school this year - a slight drop from last year, but still above the national average for previous years.

Alongside Banbury, there have also been issues in the south of the county - with some parents from Cholsey and Wallingford telling the BBC that their children had been allocated spaces at schools in Sonning Common and Blackbird Leys.

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